What Berkeley, Inc. Thinks...

I've been refraining from posting articles or offering comments on the presidential nominees until more information was provided. As usually happens, the candidates initially say as little as possible about specifics, because it provides journalists and analysts with time to more thoroughly vet them. The article from the Wall Street Journal is the first one I've seen from this publication. I suspect that Clinton's proposed trade policies will be forthcoming shortly.

Trade policies can be particularly difficult to evaluate because common economic theory doesn't always work in practice. And there are frequent unintended consequences that are not know until they appear. In addition, the assumptions made are usually refuted. But we still need to try to predict and evaluate the proposals made by the candidates and political parties. The Wall Street Journal is hardly a bastion of left-wing radicals, so I tend to think that their reporting and conclusions should be serious considered when evaluating a conservative presidential candidate. The basic conclusion is that trade tariffs would likely produce the opposite effect of what I (and the author) believe Donald Trump intends. ​When we find something pertaining to Hillary Clinton's stance, we'll post it.